College University of Idaho Role Football player Education University of Idaho | Positions Tackle Name Jim Prestel | |
Date of birth (1937-06-28) June 28, 1937 (age 78) NFL draft 1959 / Round: 6 / Pick: 70 | ||
James Francis Prestel (born June 28, 1937) is a former professional football player, a defensive lineman in the National Football League in the 1960s.
Selected in the 1959 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, he stayed in college and joined the team in 1960. Prestel was with the expansion Minnesota Vikings for their first five seasons, and then one season each with the New York Giants and Washington Redskins. He retired from the NFL prior to the 1968 season.
High school and college
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana, Prestel graduated from its Sacred Heart High School (now Roncalli) in 1955. He ventured west to play college football for head coach Skip Stahley at the University of Idaho in Moscow, where he started for the Vandals in the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) alongside future pros Jerry Kramer, Wayne Walker, and Jim Norton. Prestel was a two-sport athlete for the Vandals, where he also lettered in basketball as a 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) center for head coach Harlan Hodges, and made honorable mention in the PCC for the 1958–59 season.
Selected by the Browns in the sixth round of the 1959 NFL Draft with the 70th overall pick, Prestel remained in college; he had missed most of the 1957 season to return to Indianapolis, where his mother was terminally ill. He was granted another year of eligibility and played the 1959 season at Idaho, and was elected team captain by his Vandal teammates.
Prestel broke his left foot in practice prior to the Battle of the Palouse game with Washington State in October, but played the first half of the game anyway. He missed the remainder of the football season, the East-West Shrine Game, and the entire 1959–60 Vandal basketball season. Prestel played in the College All-Star Game at Soldier Field in August 1960, against the defending NFL champion Baltimore Colts.